Millen: South Africa Trip Will Be "Unbelievable"

Crystal Palace assistant manager Keith Millen has praised the infrastructure in Cape Town, ahead of the Eagles' pre-season trip to South Africa, predicting an "unbelievable" experience for all who go.

Millen travelled to South Africa earlier in the month, with CEO Phil Alexander, to announce the Cape Town Cup, which will feature SuperSport United, Ajax Cape Town and Sporting next month.

He admitted that he had never been to the country before the short trip and was not sure what to expect, but was blown away once he saw the scenery, met the locals and was shown around the facilities the Eagles will be using.

"We weren't quite sure when we had the invitation come through and Alan wanted me to go and have a look," he said. "I must admit, I'd never been to Cape Town before, but I was really impressed - not only by the actual place, the setting is just unbelievable - the stadium we're playing in will see some decent games.

"The Cape Town stadium was built for the World cup and it's just immaculate, so that is a big draw. But also the actual town, you've got Table Mountain there and there's so much more to see. The training ground where we're going to train too. The entire area is great, you don't realise how popular this country and the Premier League is until you're there.

Millen revealed that the English top flight's popularity in South Africa meant that a lot of people he spoke to knew about Palace and revealed their excitement at seeing the boys in red and blue come to town.

"I spoke to a lot of people out there who knew all about Crystal Palace and named some of our players who they were looking forward to seeing," he said. "Hopefully our fans can get over there. It's a long way, but because the timezone is virtually the same it doesn't feel too bad for a short trip, which is a big plus.

"Hopefully we can sleep through the night and then when you get there you almost feel like you're still in England. It's a really exciting trip - obviously the quality of the games is important to us - but from a fan's point of view it'll be great because of the city, as well as the football."

More information about Palace's trip to Cape Town next month can be found HERE.